ClipperBlog Live’s Best Moment

Fred and Andrew run their classic two-man game, discussing religion, Blake Griffin’s continued dominance, deck-a-DJ, and Jovan’s idolization of Drake.

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“Crazy Basketball”
Tonight, Blake Griffin posted his third straight 36+ point game and only needed 28 minutes to do it. In the post-game words of his BFF, DeAndre Jordan, “He’s playing some crazy basketball right now.” The fourth-year forward’s shooting efficiency did not only maintain itself when Chris Paul got injured; it improved.

In the 18 games since, he’s averaged 27.0 points per game (up from 22.1), but those additional 4.9 points per game came from just two more field-goal attempts per contest. That’s because Griffin made 55.4 percent of his shots over the 18-game stretch, while going to line nearly 11 times each game. He also rarely had an off-shooting night, shooting below 50 percent just twice (once was against Indiana; the other was 47 percent against Utah).

But don’t get it twisted. Just because Paul is coming back, that doesn’t mean Griffin’s “crazy basketball” will cease. Paul was watching this torrid stretch just like we were. If anyone knows how to feed the hot hand, it’s that guy.- Aaron Fischman

The Griffin Question
We’ve seen Blake Griffin dominate in both volume and efficiency without Chris Paul to act as his safety net for more than a month now. But Paul, who is arguably the best creator for his teammates of any player in the NBA, is expected to come back Sunday against the Philadelphia 76ers. So I keep asking myself, what is going to happen to Blake Griffin?

Griffin has shot 55 percent from the field in 18 games since Paul got hurt on Jan. 3. Clearly, the number of shot attempts will decrease once Paul comes back, but volume and efficiency tend to have an inverse relationship. And the return of Paul’s playmaking ability can only help Griffin’s percentages. So what should we expect from Griffin with Paul back? Is he going to shoot 58 percent from the field? 60? Will he continue to put up 30-point game after 30-point game? I don’t know the answers to any of these questions, but I couldn’t be more intrigued to learn them.- Fred Katz

Hack-a-Hyland
Toronto wheeled out the deck-a-DJ tactic in the third quarter. In the 2:54 they instituted the intentional foul (it felt like it took 30 real minutes), the Raptors went +3, shrinking a 21 point deficit to 18.

What’s interesting is what came next. DeAndre Jordan checked out 44 seconds later, and in the final 2:47, the Raptors squeezed the deficit from 16 to 9.

Whether the intentional fouling that threw off the flow of the Clippers’ offense will remain unknown. But it’s worth investigating if Los Angeles may be better off with Jordan regardless of fouling tactics.- Andrew Han

Jovan Buha is a staff writer and Digital Content Programmer at FOX Sports. He also contributes to ESPN Los Angeles’ Clippers and Lakers coverage. Jovan graduated from USC with a degree in Print & Digital Journalism and a minor in Sports Media Studies in 2014.

Clips look legit still think signing Dudley and Reddick were a waste but glad
they’re in the West.

Fobuless

Thank you guys for always providing excellent recap! Have u guys heard when Reddick will be coming back? Signing him was one of the better move in the summer. We should start our own #fullsquad

http://2epicbits.com/ theSUBVERSIVE

@Andrew @Fred

My thought on hack-a-somebody-with-poor-FT%: Allow the continuation shot from a guy with the ball in those cases, it’s as simple as that.

The argument against those long shots is that they are not an usual shot but well, it happens that when you know that they are going to foul somebody intentionally, they should be considered a normal shot.

So that’s it, you may foul intentionally in the first time, but then, you would think twice before fouling again at the risk of having 2 or 3 FT shots by a guy that has a much better FT%. This way you still allow the hack-a-somebody-with-poor-FT%, you don’t simply prohibit it arbitrarily, but you add a twist, a layer of strategy into it. You can still do it more than once, but you have to do it in different occasions and in a unexpected moment.

But this would certainly prevent long stretchs of intentional foul and more than that, you don’t have to change any rule for that, it’s just a different orientation for the referees.

matt nespoli

Not to beat a dead horse, but how great would this team be with Eric Bledsoe still on it?

Patrick

Well, both Bledsoe and Paul have been injured, so for the last month really, really bad. But the Clippers would be pretty good if there were no injuries. I think its arguable that Bledsoe would be a downgrade over Redick on the offensive end but definitely an upgrade on the defensive end. Our small forwards however might be even worst than they are now, if we had Butler instead of Dudley/Barnes. Its hard to say what other moves the Clips would have done if they didn’t do the trade, but I think they would be about as good as they are now.

http://www.bboy360.com/ Bboy 360

They wouldn’t have been injured because the odds of those same plays happening are impossible.